The Ride

Readers of The Ride will find no wasted words and no unearned emotion in these stories and poems. Dr. Vernon Rowe can turn even prose narrative into a moment of poetry, where, from his small airplane, “the jeweled lights of the city passed like phosphorescent plankton under my belly.” As a physician whose rounds included small, rural towns, Vernon Rowe moves quickly to what matters in breath and life. He understands the tension between hazard and joy. Ask the ancient professor of music, who proclaims here his favorite composition; ask the waitress, the young model, the displaced marine aviator. They all awaken our capacity to see clearly to love life. — ROBERT STEWART, Editor New Letters

Vernon Rowe’s The Ridetakes the reader by foot, by plane, by horse, and by helicopter into the heart of a healer and confronts his uncertainty, explores his pain, and celebrates the human condition. Dr. Rowe, a neurologist by trade, reveals himself to be a doctor of the heart as well. When he looks at an MRI of a poet’s brain, he sees “not even a single syllable of one tiny poem,” but when he listens to his patients’ stories, or looks within himself, he discovers a world beyond the scan, a realm where people can experience a connection “so strong it can heal. Like love.” In Rowe’s poems and stories, less is more. Gem-like poems and spare, uncluttered stories demonstrate the power of this fine writer. This book is a ride I encourage you to take. –JACK COULEHAN, M.D., M.P.H., author of MedicineStone